Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is commonly used for semiconductor processing as well as within for processing solar materials, glass coatings, and the like. PVD is typically used to deposit a thin layer of a certain material onto a substrate. Sputtering is a common type of PVD, in which atoms or molecules are ejected from a target material (arranged into a sputtering target) by high-energy particle bombardment and then deposited onto the substrate.
Fabrication of integrated circuits (IC), semiconductor devices, flat panel displays, optoelectronics devices, data storage devices, magneto-electronic devices, magneto-optic devices, packaged devices, and the like entails integration and sequencing various different operations. As an example, IC fabrication typically includes a series of processing steps, such as cleaning, surface preparation, deposition, lithography, patterning, etching, planarization, implantation, thermal annealing, and other related operations. The precise sequencing and integration of these operations allow formation of functional devices that meet desired performance metrics, such as speed, power consumption, and reliability.
Discovery, optimization, and qualification of each unit process may involve testing different materials, different processing conditions used in a process module, different sequencing and integration of processing modules within an integrated processing tool, different sequencing of processing tools in executing different process sequence integration flows, and various combinations thereof. Specifically, multiple different materials, processing conditions, sequences of operations, integration flows, and other factors (collectively referred herein as “combinatorial process sequence integration”) may need to be tested on as fewer substrates as possible. The combinatorial process sequence integration approach can greatly improve the speed and reduce the cost associated with the discovery, implementation, optimization, and qualification of new materials, processes, and integration sequences.